Victor Starffin

Viktor Starukhin ( ; 1 May 1916 – 12 January 1957), nicknamed , or more commonly known as Victor Starffin , was a Japanese baseball player. Born in Russia, he became the first professional pitcher in Japan to win 300 games. With 83 career shutouts, he ranks number one all-time in Japanese professional baseball.

Biography

Early years Viktor Starukhin (also known as Victor Starffin) was born in 1916 in Nizhny Tagil, in the Urals region of what was then the Russian Empire, but after the Russian Revolution he moved with his family initially to Harbin, Manchuria, then eventually settling in Asahikawa, Hokkaidō, where he attended Asahikawa Higashi High School. Initially bullied due to him not being Japanese, Starukhin eventually studied the language well, and was also very athletic, so much so that he would still win a 100-meter dash, even if his classmates got a 20-meter head start. This had been partly due to his size. Specifically, he stood at 6 feet (180cm) by the age of 11. He was also good at baseball, having discovered the sport after moving to Japan. His tall height mixed well with baseball, as his skill allowed him to use it as a way to connect and make friends with his classmates, and it also allowed him to distance himself from his family issues of his father, Konstantine Starukhin, resorting to heavy drinking.

Initially, Starukhin was scouted by Koyo Gakuin High School in Nishinomiya, but other schools complained about it, as they weren't on the idea of a foreigner pitching for them, so he joined Asahikawa Higashi's baseball team, helping them to 2 consecutive finals of the Hokkaido tournament of the Japanese High School Baseball Championship, failing both times to qualify for Summer Koshien.

Starukhin wanted to get into Waseda University, but he was scouted by Matsutaro Shoriki in the autumn of 1934 as a member of the national baseball team for an exhibition game against the United States. At that time, the Ministry of Education had a regulation stating that high school baseball players who played professionally forfeited their eligibility to enter higher education, so Starukhin was reluctant to turn pro. However, he and his family had entered Japan on transit visas, and his father, Konstantin Starukhin, was in jail awaiting trial on charges of involuntary manslaughter, as he had murdered a co-worker of his wife due to political differences between both parties, and because of that, he was able to claim he killed her due to him thinking she was a spy sent by the Soviet government to monitor Russian refugees in Hokkaido. Shoriki effectively blackmailed Starukhin, stating that if Starukhin refused to play professionally, Shoriki would use his connections with the Yomiuri Shimbun to publicise the details of Konstantin Starukhin's case, therefore deporting him and his mother back to Russia, and likely to be arrested by the NKVD due to his father's political alignment. at Karuizawa with diplomats and other foreign residents.

Post-war career

After a brief period working as an interpreter for the U.S. Occupation authorities (SCAP), Starukhin returned to professional baseball in 1946, but chose not to return to the Giants, instead signing a contract with a new team, the Pacific Baseball Club, owned by Komajiro Tamura. Pacific's contracts with several famous players, including Starukhin, led to a serious conflict, and Pacific was forced to forfeit four games. However, this decision ultimately resulted in Starukhin's old team the Giants losing the first Japanese championship after World War II, as one of Pacific's forfeited games had been a loss to Kinki Great Ring (now the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks): the change from a loss to a win gave Great Ring the title over the Giants.

Starukhin stayed with Pacific in 1947, which became known as the Taiyo Robins. In 1948 he moved to Tamura's other team, the Kinsei/Daiei Stars, staying with that franchise through 1953 (although Tamura sold the team to Daiei Film after the 1948 season). Starukhin finally signed with the Takahashi/Tombow Unions (a forerunner of the Chiba Lotte Marines) in 1954–55. In 1955, his last season, he became the first career 300-game winner in Japanese professional baseball. Originally, it was thought that Starukhin recorded his 300th win against the Kintetsu Pearls at Kawasaki Stadium on July 28, 1955. However, due to NPB rules on pitcher wins pre-war, it was only considered his 298th. He would get his actual 300th win on the 9th of September against his former Daiei Stars team at Nishinokyogoku Stadium in Kyoto City. When asked what he wanted to do next, Starukhin stated he wanted to get 2,000 career strikeouts and 100 shutouts before ending his baseball career. He never got to do so, due to him being forced to retire as after a 7-21 record in 1955, he was cut from the Unions and no other team wanted to sign him, despite him stating he was willing to also pitch for free. He retired in 1955 with a career record of 303 wins and 176 losses.

Starukhin is buried in Tama Cemetery in Tokyo. He was the first player to be honored in a funeral where former teammates of his shared stories of his time playing with them.

Tributes In 1960, he became the first foreigner elected to the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame.

Asahikawa City has nicknamed its municipal baseball stadium, as Asahikawa Starffin Stadium, since 1984.

Family In 1939, Starukhin married a Russian emigrant, Elena. In 1941, their only child George was born. After the death of her husband, Kunie worked several jobs to support her family. Natalia would go on to become a journalist and write about her father. On May 1, 2016, on what would have been Starukhin's 100th birthday she threw out the opening pitch in Asahikawa where he grew up.

Professional Statistics YearTeamGWLIPKBBHRERA 1936 Summer Kyojin 1 0 0 3.0 4 1 0 0.00 1936 Autumn 3 1 2 21.0 19 7 0 3.00 1937 Summer 25 13 4 147.1 92 58 1 1.53 1937 Autumn 26 15 7 164.2 95 51 0 1.86 1938 Summer 24 14 3 158.2 76 57 5 2.04 1938 Autumn 24 19 2 197.2 146 59 0 1.05 1939 68 42 15 458.1 282 156 4 1.73 1940 55 38 12 436.0 245 145 3 0.97 1941 20 15 3 150.0 58 45 3 1.20 1942 40 26 8 306.1 110 119 3 1.12 1943 18 10 5 136.0 71 57 2 1.19 1944 7 6 0 66.0 27 23 0 0.68 1946 Pacific 5 1 1 31.2 11 16 1 1.99 1947 Taiyo 20 8 10 162.1 77 48 3 2.05 1948 Kinsei 37 17 13 298.1 138 80 6 2.17 1949 Daiei 52 27 17 376.0 163 69 24 2.61 1950 35 11 15 234.1 86 48 21 3.96 1951 14 6 6 100.2 47 22 5 2.68 1952 24 8 10 150.1 44 43 9 3.05 1953 26 11 9 201.2 61 42 11 2.68 1954 Takahashi 29 8 13 178.1 52 45 12 3.73 1955 Tombow 33 7 21 196.2 56 30 9 3.89 Total ― 586 303 176 4175.1 1960 1221 122 2.09 Bold = led league